Tangy, creamy and distinctive, the rich and delicious Hollandaise sauce is a staple of French gourmet cooking. As a unique culinary offering and complex food creation, you may find, if you've ever sampled it, that its ingredient makeup and cooking process are hard to discern from its flavor and texture alone. In addition to containing an interesting mixture of food components, this celebrated sauce has an interesting place in the history of fine European cuisine.
Ingredients
Though the ingredients of a Hollandaise sauce have varied somewhat throughout its history, the most common makeup of the sauce nowadays is a combination of butter and lemon juice or vinegar, emulsified (combined) with eggs or egg whites and seasoned with salt and black or cayenne pepper.
Process
The preparation of Hollandaise sauce is a complex process requiring some care and culinary skill. Since the combination of cream products (butter) and acidic agents like vinegar or lemon juice creates a sauce prone to both separation and curdling, making a successful Hollandaise sauce requires specialized equipment (namely, a double boiler) and careful timing and control of the temperatures of the ingredients.
History
The earliest recorded history of a similar sauce bearing the name "hollandaise" dates back to 1748 in Frangois Marin's "Les Dons de Comus" (a highly influential French cookbook of the 18th century). However, sauces with similar ingredients are mentioned in a Dutch cookbook from 1683.
Uses
Hollandaise sauce is perhaps best known as a key, required ingredient in Eggs Benedict, but it also has many other uses. It is often served over potatoes, vegetables and pasta.
The Name
The name "hollandaise" comes from a French word meaning "from Holland." Though most culinary historians agree that the sauce in its present form is a French creation, the link to Holland is thought to be a reference to that region's historically fine offerings of butter and eggs.
Tags: Hollandaise sauce, lemon juice, name hollandaise
